Often people say that December is the most wonderful time of the year. Some college soccer coaches would disagree, as come every August there is a special buzz in the air. The excitement of another season is upon us, all the teams are undefeated and every program has high hopes and great expectations. The players return from a summer away and they have that gleam in their eyes. It is time to get after it!

We will start training this Sunday. The Huskies will have a two and a half week pre-season where we hope that we will answer some questions. The training camp allows us a chance to piece together our team and see who fits where and what our strengths and weaknesses will be. To say we are excited would be a great understatement.

There have been some changes to the Huskies. Kris Bertsch, our Director of Soccer Operations has left to become an Assistant Coach at Syracuse University and he has been replaced by Kevin May.

Chris West our Strength Coach returns for his 9th year. Chris is a tremendous part of our staff. He is by far the best soccer strength coach in America. He is always introducing cutting edge concepts to our team and it is through his vision and expertise that our players constantly are making great improvements physically. Chris makes strides with our players that many programs don't. We are very fortunate to have Chris with our team.

Dane Brenner has been added to our staff as the Volunteer Coach, and Kevin Bacher has moved into the role, that Paul McDonough had. Paul McDonough gave us a great six years and will be sorely missed. Paul's ability to evaluate and select talent is better than anyone I have seen before. Finally, John Deeley is back from his heart surgery for his 13th year, and is very focused on the upcoming season. We are extremely happy that Coach Deeley has fully recovered and his presence was missed in last year's post-season.

We will be starting to train this Sunday and practice is open to the public. I will be writing my weekly blog throughout this season and hope that you will follow the Huskies closely.